Top plays of 2014: Yoenis Céspedes’ amazing throw

Updated 10:19 pm, Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Photo: Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press

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A’s left fielder Yoenis Céspedes booted the ball into the corner, retrieved it and threw a 300-foot strike to the catcher. “It’s the most improbable thing I’ve ever seen on a baseball field,” says Oakland closer Sean Doolittle. less

A’s left fielder Yoenis Céspedes booted the ball into the corner, retrieved it and threw a 300-foot strike to the catcher. “It’s the most improbable thing I’ve ever seen on a baseball field,” says ... more

Photo: Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press

Top plays of 2014: Yoenis Céspedes’ amazing throw

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When Yoenis Céspedes made one of the great throws in major-league history on June 10, in the eighth inning of a game at Anaheim, it was so stupendous that the entire A’s bullpen climbed up the wall in left to watch.

“We’re on the bottom of that tiered bullpen in Anaheim and you’re looking through these scratched-up plastic windows, it’s an awful view,” closer Sean Doolittle said. “It’s late in the game and the ball gets hit down in the corner — so we all ran up to the window to watch, because Cespy misplayed it, it kicked off his glove, and we all know what kind of arm he has.

“We jumped up like we’re trying to do pull-ups, trying to get over the fence to see. We’re literally hanging there to see what happened.”

The A’s relievers had seen some unreal throws before from Céspedes. No one, though, expected what came next, because the Cuban outfielder had knocked the ball so far away, toward the side wall in left field, that he had to chase it into foul territory. Angels second baseman Howie Kendrick, running from first base on Mike Trout’s line drive, appeared likely to score easily.

“When I saw the play initially, I was ticked off because Cespy picked up his head and kicked the ball into the corner,” former Oakland first baseman Brandon Moss said. “Cespy is the only guy who could turn the worst play of the year into hands-down the best play of the year.”

By the time Céspedes uncorked his throw, Kendrick was well past third.

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, there was the ball, sailing over Kendrick and plopping right into Derek Norris’ glove.

Out.

Staggering.

“I can’t describe it, the way the ball arced. It’s the most improbable thing I’ve ever seen on a baseball field.” Doolittle said. “Yoenis barehanded it off the ground and he didn’t even set himself, he just chucked it. When we saw how high it was, it was like, 'Shoot, it’s going to go into the second deck behind home plate.’ And it just lands right in Norris’ glove.

“It was insane. Josh Donaldson couldn’t have underhanded the ball to Norris better from eight feet away, it was so perfect. That would be a 100-yard throw on a football field. It was 300 feet, and right where he needed it. It was like in 'Sandlot,’ where he tells the kid, 'Stick your glove up,’ and he hits a flyball right into it — but this was 200 feet farther and going 100 mph.”

Said Moss, “I can believe he threw it that far. Cespy has a cannon. But Norris didn’t even have to move — he literally just dropped the tag on Howie. Howie was like, 'What the heck just happened?’

“We were joking with Yoenis afterward, 'Did you kick the ball to the wall so you could throw him out?’ ”

Even Angels manager Mike Scioscia had praise for Céspedes, calling the throw “incredible ... a special play.”

And then the Oakland relief corps tumbled back down to the ground and began to celebrate.

“We were jumping around in the bullpen like idiots, whooping and yelling at Yoenis — but he looked like he thought it was pretty normal, just gave Coco Crisp a little bang-bang sign,” Doolittle said with a laugh. “We were all like the bench on a college basketball team, going crazy when someone dunks on the other team, just going nuts.”

A’s manager Bob Melvin also reached for a basketball analogy. “As the play transpired, it was like a bad three-point shot — we were all going, 'No, no, no, no, no!’ ” Melvin said. “Yoenis has his head down, he kicks it, and he flat-foots the throw; he did three different things wrong — and he made up for it with the best throw I’ve ever seen.”

Cespedes was traded to the Red Sox seven weeks later, but his throw — available for viewing on YouTube — will live on in Oakland A’s lore, a highlight for the ages.

Editor’s note: It has been an amazing year for sports in the Bay Area. To commemorate the highs and the lows, The Sporting Green recounts the Top 10 Plays of 2014 in a year-end series. To read about all the top plays, go to www.sfchronicle.com/sports.